cee, eed are £8 deer t Sieg ae a 
ote fa i 7° 2 ah: 
oe oe is er 
Messrs. Alexander and Morfit on Brown Sugar. 393 
at 
Arr. XXXIV.—A Chemical Examination of the Commercial 
Varieties of Brown Sugar; by Joun H. ALEXANDER and 
» CampBeELL Morrir. : 
THE impurities of crude sugar are incidental to the cane 
_ juice and the process by which it is manufactured. They con- 
_ sist of water, insoluble or suspended matters, soluble organic 
_Inatters and unerystallizable sugar. The latter is not only defi- 
cient in sweetening power, but conspires, with the water, organic 
matters, and chlorids of sodium and magnesium of the ash, to 
compose the cane sugar or valuable portion and thus depre- 
the real value of the commercial sugar. Care was observed 
sure fair average samples for the analyses, by having them 
d through the agency of intelligent sugar brokers* of long 
Xperience. ‘There was no free acid present in any one of them, 
as we determined by actual tests. 
It having been found by preliminary qualitative examination, 
that the same components were more or less common to all the 
_ Samples, we arranged our plan of analysis so that it should, in 
5, oo geome detect and estimate the smallest quantity of either 
yan | 
md 
all of them. 
1. Water.—The moist condition of brown sugar is accidental, 
 ‘Sitce it does not contain any water of crystallization. Its ten- 
dency to form hygroscopic compounds with the chlorids of sodium 
and magnesium gives, to these salts when present, the power of 
affecting, materially, the dryness of the sugar, 
y mount of moisture was determined by weighing twenty- 
: five grains of the sugar upon a counterpoised watch-glass and 
_ “ying it in vacuo, over sulphuric acid and chlorid of calcium, 
“Until it ceased to lose weight. The difference between the final 
and original weights expressed the amount of loss which, being 
contained water, was then calculated to per cent. ee 
2+ Insoluble matter.—The totality of insoluble matter consisting 
OF vegetal remains, sand, dirt, &c., was estimated by dissolving 
one hundred grains of the sugar in cold distilled water, filtering 
Upon a counterpoised filter, washing repeatedly with cold water, 
{fen drying the filter in vacuo and weighing, The weight rep- 
‘ented the total amount of insoluble matter. : 
© separate the organic from the inorganic portion of this 
tter, the filter was burned to ash in a platinum erucible. The 
ght of the ash was taken as the per cent of znoygunie matter; 
that which it had lost by ignition, as the organze portion. 
bumen.—The filtrate trom the above was next concen- 
ted by careful evaporation upun a sand bath so as to coagulate 
: # Field and Keemlé, Philadelphia. 
COND SERIES, Vou. XXV, No. 75.—MAY, 1858. 
50 
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